ernie's eruditions

Wow, I've been busy this week. Haven't done any personal/recreational stuff on the computer since Sunday. I saw there were some e-mails in my hotmail account suggesting I have comments on my LJ, but I haven't checked them, nor have I responded to some others. Sorry.

Anyway, saw this story about how bad written communication these days is, primarily in e-mail. Let me tell you, I'll agree with this one 100%. When I'm getting people that e-mail w/o subjects, and there email body is something like "what do I need to do to apply thanks" with no signature or anything else, I'm not real happy. So, Ernie's quick lessons about writing business e-mails:

USE A DAMN SUBJECT! I get probably upwards of 50 e-mails a day, and being able to scan subjects to find e-mails is very useful.

There's a shift key on your keyboard. In fact, there's two of them. Learn what they're for.

Those "funny" looking characters (.',) all have purposes. Maybe you should learn what they're for too.

Sign your freaking e-mail if I don't know who you are.

If you're applying for a job "boobookitty69@hotmail.com" probably isn't the best address to use

So am I perfect? Absolutely not. I use a lot of ellipses (. . . ) rather than periods when I respond to people I know, and I used one of my "hairylunch" email addresses when I applied for my first VISTA year.

Looking through the discussion on Slashdot about this story, it's appalling how many people seem to think that it's okay because time is money, so writing a quick e-mail w/o proofreading is more efficient. At least this comment points out the fact that yes, time is money, but in the long run you lose more time when you don't communicate clearly.

HELLO

I save poorly written emails that I get at work for future reference. There is one lady out in California that has multiple entries, her name suggests she's Latino, so I thought maybe English wasn't her native language. I gave her a break, if I had to write in French, it would barely be translateable (i like to make up words, or at least new spellings for existing words). Then one day I spoke with her on the phone and I heard no hints of an accent and her English seemed perfect.

So how is it that someone who can speak perfect English cannot write two sentences without breaking every written rule about writing? I'm definitely not close to being perfect, heck, I barely passed the writing portion of the high school senior proficiency test (i did get honors in the other 4 sections though). But come on people, if you've graduated high school and make as much money as she was making, proofread emails and DO NOT WRITE AN ENTIRE PARAGRAPH IN CAPS THEN SIGN YOUR NAME IN ALL LOWER CASE.